Russian rocket launches first Malaysian into space

By Shavkat Rakhmatullayev

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Malaysia's first astronaut, a U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off to rendezvous with the International Space Station on Wednesday.

Thousands of Malaysians watched the blast-off live on television as the TMA-11 rocket carrying Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, an orthopaedic surgeon and university lecturer from Kuala Lumpur, lifted off from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe.

Russian officials said the rocket lifted off on schedule, at 05:22 p.m. Moscow time (2:22 p.m. British time) and successfully went into orbit, circling the earth every 88.7 minutes.

"Each space launch is a pretty tense and maybe the most complicated stage of space flight," said Vladimir Solovoyov, who is in charge of Russia's segment of the ISS.

"This one went off successfully and without a hitch," he said, visibly relieved after the craft reached orbit.

Staff at mission control shook each others' hands. Live pictures from aboard the rocket, which was travelling at a speed of 8 km (4.97 miles) per second, showed the crew sitting calmly and reading their flight logs.

"Now we will have the most difficult stage, when the spaceship must adjust its route and get into orbit," said Solovoyov at mission control centre outside Moscow.

The crew is scheduled to dock to the $100-billion (49 billion pounds) ISS on Friday. Shukor is flying with the ISS Expedition-16 commander, U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, who will work in space for half a year.